St. Petersburg, Florida – Major League Baseball has decided not to penalize the Red Sox or their manager. Alex Cora for a pitch thrown behind Yankee star Aaron Judge on Saturday.

Apparently in retaliation for Gerrit Cole having hit three of his teammates earlier in the game, Brayan Bello tried to hit Judge in the sixth inning and missed with a 97.4 mph fastball. Yankees manager Aaron Boone questioned the intent of the pitch, but Judge was not bothered and said it was part of the game.

“The most important thing is that you don’t miss anything,” he said.

Cora essentially acknowledged that the Sox tried to hit Judge on Sunday.

“We had our chance, it didn’t work out and we have to move on,” he said.

This caught the attention of the league. Cora spoke with officials on Monday and the issue is now considered closed.

“We’re fine. I’m here,” Cora said Tuesday before an 8-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Houck returns to the rotation

Tanner Houckwho has not been on the pitch since September 4th due to shoulder pain, is scheduled to start on Wednesday.

“He will start,” said Cora.

Houck faced the Rays twice in May and allowed one earned run in 12⅔ innings.

Bello is scheduled to appear in the series finale on Thursday.

Houck is 0-4 with a 4.78 earned run average since pitching in the All-Star Game. The Sox are 1-8 in his starts during that time. Before the break, Houck was 13-6 in starts.

Comeback children

Luis Garcia And Lucas Sims each threw a scoreless inning for Triple A Worcester in a 14-9 win at Lehigh Valley.

Sims struck out two of the three batters he faced. García allowed one hit. Both have been on the injured list since August 27, Sims with a latissimus strain and Garcia with elbow inflammation.

One game could be enough to get them back to the major leagues.

Left-handed Brennan Bernardinowho is on the injured list due to elbow inflammation, is back in Boston and is unlikely to play again this season.

Right-handed Bryan Mata appears to be out for the season after just 11 games – all of them rehab appearances since he was placed on the injured list in spring training with a hamstring strain. He later developed shoulder soreness.

Mata last pitched for Worcester on September 10, throwing 17 pitches and making two outs.

“The last time he was there, he was in a little pain,” said Cora.

Cora acknowledged that there is little chance of Mata returning. The 25-year-old has been on the 40-man roster for the past four seasons and has yet to play a major league game.

Going up

After Double A Portland ended its season, Alex Binelas And Max FergusonRight-handed Robert Kwiatkowskiand outfielders Philip Sikes were promoted to Worcester. . . The Sox have lost nine of their last ten road games. . . Jarren Duran was 0 for 4 and is 15 of his last 68 (.221) with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He hasn’t hit a home run since August 30 and his last stolen base was on August 21… Rafael Devers has a batting average of .177 with one extra-base hit in his last 17 games. His OPS has dropped from .940 to .883.

Peter Abraham can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @PeteAbe.